Death, if you can hear me, I’m in a committed relationship now, so if you could please try not to bang me anymore, or worse—decide to keep me—I’d really appreciate it.
Opening the car door, I step outside, only to look back and find Atlas’s face paling at what I’ve done, like I’ve just put a fully loaded gun to my temple, ready to play Russian roulette.
He rushes to my side, forcing me to walk behind him, his body—my shield.
“I’d kill him before I let him hurt you. You got that?” he says in a quiet, yet firm tone, squeezing my hand to further drive his words.
My body drains of life when I spot Gabriel Bennett close to our front door, and a single tremor of my hand warns Atlas of what’s happening to me on the inside.
With my face partially hidden by my hair and buried in the sleeve of his jacket, I pass Gabriel by, while he and Atlas acknowledge each other by their last names.
My boyfriend grabs the handle of the front door, but then he halts, pulling me closer to him until my front is flush with his.
“Don’t show weakness! He’ll use it against you. I love you!” he offers like a battle cry.
The moment I step inside, I find all the guys gathered around the dining table, and at the center sits him. He’s smiling, white teeth perfectly arranged, bright green eyes, dark hair styled so precisely that not a single strand dares move. Even from across the room, you can tell his suit is custom-made and worth a fortune. But he could only ever look good in it if he were in a coffin.
On the surface, Mason looks like anything but a monster. Yet I’ve seen what hides behind that smile, and how bone-chilling his laughter can be.
I should probably thank the adrenaline for keeping my face from turning blanched, but it’s my rage—simmering just under the surface, clawing to break free—that won’t let fear take over.
“Hello, son!”
Hearing Mason’s voice rattles me to the core, but I keep a straight face.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?”
Atlas squeezes my hand, prompting me to look away from the culprit of my nightmares.
“Summer, that’s my father—”
“Where’s Bear?” I interrupt Atlas the moment I can’t see my dog anywhere around me.
Bear would’ve pulled the meat off Mason’s bones.
“Was Bear the mutt that attacked me?” My blood freezes in an instant. “Next time you get a dog, make sure it recognizes who owns it. It’s in the bedroom,” Mason says matter-of-factly, flicking his hand in the air as a pointer.
I look back at my boyfriend, shattering inwardly, knowing this monster found a way to hurt me again.
Atlas’s minuscule shake of his head is a warning for me to keep it together, not go there, but I ignore him as I try to rip my hand from his firm grip. He doesn’t let go until I pin him with my stare, and he does.
I rush ahead, each step taken in denial of what’s happening, refusing to believe that another thing I love has been snatched away by that same man who already took so much.
“What the fuck did you do to my dog?”
Atlas’s voice travels from behind me, but when the blood trail starts, all sound loses meaning.
I swing the bedroom door open, not hearing or caring about Mason’s response, holding this misguided hope that Bear will come running to me, toppling me over—that’s how big he’s become.
Hearing nothing else, I’m left staring at my dog’s body on the carpet, his blood soaked into the fibers around him. I clamp a hand over my mouth to smother the sound that wants to tear out of me, and my fingers go numb.
My legs carry me forward without permission, and they give out as I crumble beside Bear’s lifeless body.
Tears won’t bring him back, but they still blur my vision and spill down my cheeks. I squeeze my eyes shut, like not seeing will make this less real, grief hollowing me out, leaving me breathless, shaking, broken.
“Bear?” I bury my palms into his soft black fur, like that’s going to stir him, wake him up.
Atlas is shouting from the other room, but the words pass me by without registering any meaning. This won’t bring my dog back. Nothing ever done or said can bring him back.
